World Water Day, 22 March - Water is
Life

The international observance of 22 March as World Water Day is an
initiative that grew out of the 1992 United National Conference on Environment
and Development in Rio de Janeiro. This background note details some of the
policies and projects underway in the European Commission to address issues
related to water management and supply, both within the EU and abroad. The
United Nations will announce 2005 to 2015 the “Decade of Water” in
order to support the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals and the
European Union will use this decade to achieve good water status for all
European waters.

Research – a new report on climate change and water

The European Commission’s Directorate General Joint Research Centre (DG
JRC) has published a major new Report on ‘Climate Change and the European
Water Dimension’. The compilation of this report follows a request from
the European Water Directors (representatives from EU Member States and the
European Commission). The study has been co-authored by more than 40 leading
scientists from around Europe and DG JRC’s Institute for Environment and
Sustainability (IES). The report will be used to make an assessment of existing
water policy and examine whether it can accommodate real or anticipated impacts
of climate change.

The European Water Directors asked the authors to determine to what extent
the Commission, Member States, marine and river basin commissions, and others
have developed detailed predictions concerning the possible consequences of
climate change. Do we know enough about the possible impacts of climate change
on a European scale to act?

The Report is issued against a backdrop of increasing scientific evidence of
global warming. According to the International Panel on Climate Change, the
average global temperatures over land surfaces, for example, have risen by 0.6
± 0.2°C in the period from 1861 to 2000. This is unprecedented within
the past millennium while projected increases over the 21st century
are from 1.4 to 5.8 °C.

This would have significant impact, real and potential, on aquatic ecosystems
such as the world’s oceans, European lakes and seas, and Mediterranean
coastal lagoons. In particular, the report highlights alterations of biological,
chemical and physical characteristics of European water bodies. Existing small
variations in climate, leading to sea level rises of 1-2 mm/year, are having
strong effects on aquatic ecology, intensifying coastal erosion, affecting
nutrient and sediment transport, and resulting in a redistribution and loss of
marine organisms.

The Report also documents the intensification of the hydrologic cycle via
extreme weather events such as floods and droughts. Annual precipitation over
Northern Europe has increased by between 10% and 40% in the last century,
whereas the Mediterranean basin has experienced a reduction of up to 20%. The
incidence of weather-driven natural hazards is predicted to increase. This has
an obvious knock-on effect on the competing needs of different water sectors,
especially urban areas and on the corresponding challenges to water use in
agriculture, the most vulnerable human activity under unfavourable climatic
conditions.

This Report already makes it clear that climate change will challenge both
water resources and policy makers alike. Taken together with other recent
contributions by the International Panel on Climate Change, the
European Environment Agency, and the Arctic Council, it provides
recommendations on medium and long-term policy changes. The impact of climate
change on the implementation of the EU’s Water Framework Directive and the
ecological status of Europe’s water bodies is also discussed in the
Report.

The Report emphasises the urgent need for a new approach to the problem,
particularly through the development and application of climate change scenarios
at the scale of regions and river basins to assess the response of land and
water systems at local level. This should apply to both quantity and quality
concerns of Europe's aquatic resources and must assess mitigation strategies and
their associated costs.

Research is invaluable for developing society’s knowledge awareness of
the importance of water for our environmental and socio-economic welfare and the
need to take action to defend the sustainability of our aquatic ecosystems.
From earlier focus on environmental quality standards and objectives emphasis
was recently shifted to multi-disciplinary research on integrated water resource
management and user participation.

The Water Supply and Sanitation Technology Platform is supported by the
European Commission to bring together the research community, industry,
policy-makers, the financial community and other interested parties, to
establish a long-term view of the research needs of the sector.

Water has been a feature of the last 2 framework programmes for Research and
Development. Subjects covered include: support to EU policies as described
above, hydro structure and function of ecosystems; behaviour of pollutants in
waer; climate change; water qualify and availability; methodologies for
thresholds for contaminants; techniques for detecting viruses in bathing
water

By adopting the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in 2000, the EU set a
milestone for water protection, and also for involvement of citizens and good
governance.

This directive is the result of a very intensive exchange process between
experts, stakeholders and policy makers. It deals with all categories of water
(rivers, lakes, ground, transitional and coastal), all impacts on waters (from
households, industry and agriculture) and contains water quality and quantity
objectives.

The key concept of the WFD is integration. Firstly, it is founded on the
sustainable development principle. Secondly, it calls for an integrated river
basin management (RBMP) of water resources. Thirdly, links and co-ordinates all
previous water policies, such as the directives on urban waste water treatment,
nitrates, bathing or drinking water into a common framework. Finally, the
integration of other major EU policies, e.g. agriculture, hydropower or
navigation, and water policy is a prerequisite for successful protection of the
aquatic environment.

Member States have already started the process to develop the main tool for
the achievement of the objectives - the first RBMP, which will be published in
2009. The first steps for the RBMP contain an initial characterisation of water
bodies, a detailed analysis of pressures and impacts affecting all water
resources and an economic assessment of water uses within a river basin. This
initial analysis will identify water bodies that will not achieve the objective
of the Directive and therefore should be included in the Programme of Measures
of the RBMP.

In order to support the challenging implementation process, the 25 EU Member
States, Norway and the European Commission agreed to a joint working process
called the Common Implementation Strategyin May 2001. This ongoing
participatory process developed a wealth of information including several
guidance documents, reports and results from pilot river basins.

Key objectives and principles of the WFD are:

Ensuring protection of all our waters, with the objective of good
quality (‘good status’), as a rule, at the latest by 2015

Covering all impacts on water, regardless of their origin, and to provide a
single coherent management frame based on river basins and the integration of
all water-related legislation

Getting citizens and stakeholders involved by broad public
participation

Using economic instruments in support of environmental objectives

Providing a sound long-term basis for political, technical and financial
decisions at all levels

Achievement of “good status” for all European waters by 2015.
The definition of the good water status encompasses the chemical composition of
water and the ecological elements. The ecological status is defined as an
expression of the condition of water bodies as regard their capacity to support
natural life, biodiversity and legitimate water uses. Another important
objective is to develop water pricing policies that provide adequate incentives
to recover the costs of water services for households, industry and
agriculture.

Next steps in the implementation phase of the WFD
are:

2005: Initial report on characterisation, pressure and impact on waters and
economic assessment of water use

2006: Start monitoring programmes to assess the status of water bodies

Current marine environment threats range from the loss or degradation of
biodiversity/structure changes, loss of habitats, contamination by dangerous
substances and nutrients and possible future effects of climate change. The
related pressures include commercial fishing, oil and gas exploration, shipping,
water borne and atmospheric deposition of dangerous substances and nutrients,
waste dumping, physical degradation of the habitat due to dredging and
extraction of sand and gravel. If not addressed, these threats and pressures
will put at risk the generation of wealth and employment opportunities derived
from our oceans and seas. The Commission has over the last 2 years consulted a
wide range of interested groups, with a view to establishing a thematic strategy
on the protection and conservation of the marine environment. This Strategy will
allow the issue of protection of the marine environment to be dealt with
coherently, bringing together the current patchwork of policies, legislation,
programmes and action plans at national, regional, EU and global level.

The European Commission is developing an action programme on Flood Risk
Management . Floods can affect economic and environmental life and undermine
Europe’s progress towards sustainable development and competitiveness.
Between 1998 and 2002, Europe suffered over 100 major damaging floods, including
the catastrophic floods along the Danube and Elbe rivers in 2002. Since 1998,
floods have caused some 700 deaths, the displacement of about half a million
people and at least € 25 billion in insured economic losses.

The European action programme will include three distinct but closely linked
actions:

Improvement of the exchange of experiences and knowledge and increasing the
awareness,

Development of a targeted approach to the best use of funding tools,

Development of a proposal for a legal instrument.

The risk of
floods will probably increase during the coming decades. Two trends point to
this. Firstly, the magnitude and frequency of floods are likely to increase in
the future as a result of climate change. Secondly, the impact of flood events
may increase, because more people live in areas at risk of flooding and also
more economic assets (business and industry) are located in such areas.
Moreover, human activities such as the clearing of forests, the straightening of
rivers, the suppression of natural flood plains and poor land planning, have
contributed significantly to increasing the risk of floods. In order to manage
the flood risks better and to develop a sustainable approach, it is necessary
first to know of the risks: which areas can be flooded and to which extent. This
information is important for spatial planners, but also for other authorities
and the people living there so they can prepare themselves. The second element
is to develop a plan at river basin level and for coastal areas in order to
prevent problems being passed on from one area to another. Therefore the
Commission intends to develop a proposal for a legislative proposal which will
include the development and implementation of flood maps and flood risk
management plans. The Commission will also ensure that all relevant EU policies
contribute, where appropriate, to flood risk management, for example the EU Common
Agricultural Policy and the new EU Cohesion
Policy.

In its conclusion of March 2004, the EU Council decided to create a
€500 million ACP-EU Water Facility, with a first tranche of €250
million already made available. The Council will decide soon on the mobilisation
of a second allocation of €250 million for the Water Facility in the
framework of the performance review of the European Development Fund.

The overall objective of the ACP-EU Water Facility (WF) is to contribute to
poverty reduction and sustainable development through the achievement of the
specific MDGs and WSSD targets on water and sanitation in ACP countries. The
objective of the Water Facility is to boost the sustainable delivery of water
and sanitation infrastructure and to improve water governance and Integrated
Water Resources Management (IWRM) practices in ACP countries by helping to
address the financing gap. The Water Facility has been developed to be a
catalyst, to promote initiatives, build capacity in partner countries, and to be
an instrument that can provide the missing link in financing sustainable
activities and programmes in the water and sanitation sector. In addition to
proposals ready for implementation, the first Call for Proposals will also lead
to support preparation of new proposals, reinforce capacity and improve the
enabling environment for further investment in water and sanitation.

The Water Facility has been designed through a strong consultation process,
soliciting comments and inputs through a dialogue with EU and ACP partners from
public authorities, civil society, the business community and international
bodies.

The Water Facility uses Calls for Proposals as the fundamental delivering
mechanism. The first Call for Proposals has been launched addressing three
components:

Improving the water management and governance

Water and Sanitation Infrastructure

Civil Society initiatives

The proposals are currently under
evaluation.

Translating
policy into action: the EU Water Initiative

The European Union Water Initiative (EUWI) is an expression of the collective
will of the European Union to work in an innovative manner on water and
sanitation, a key development issue closely linked to achievement of nearly all
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The starting point of the EUWI has been the basic acknowledgement that the
water-related international targets cannot be achieved with conventional means
and fragmented approaches. They require a greater and more open form of
mobilisation of partners both in European and in partner countries, ranging from
the governments, International Financial Institutions and other donors, to civil
society organisations, water users and water industry. The EUWI’s
pioneering partnership approach aims at bringing together EU institutions and
Member States, developing country government agencies, civil society, financial
institutions, as well as the expertise and investment potential of the
EU’s water industry. The EUWI also places the emphasis on better use of
existing and generation of new scientific knowledge and on its effective
translation into innovation; as well as on raising public awareness on water
issues.

The key objectives of the Initiative are; to reinforce political commitment
to action; to raise the priority given to water and sanitation issues in the
context of poverty reduction efforts; to promote better water governance; to
encourage the public and private sectors and local stakeholders to work together
better; to strengthen institutional capacity at the regional, national and local
levels; to improve co-ordination and co-operation in the sector; to encourage
regional and sub-regional co-operation on water management issues; and to
catalyse additional funding.

The Financial Challenge

The EU is already the largest provider of funding for water-related
development aid and scientific cooperation. There is a need however for a
significant increase in funding for water and sanitation, as well as better use
of development aid to leverage more resources from a large range of sources
(public and private, local and international), if the MDG targets are to be met.
The EU Water Initiative has included a major assessment of financing water
sector development and the Camdessus Panel report ‘Financing Water for
All’ published in 2003 stresses that the flow of funds has to roughly
double, with increases from all sources.

Assistance for water projects in National and Regional Indicative
Programmes

Activities in the water and sanitation sector are taking place and being
prepared as part of the National and Regional Indicative Programmes of ACP
countries and regions. More than €400m is allocated to water and
sanitation under the 9th EDF in 14 ACP countries. The EC also has significant
allocations for water related activities in other regions including Eastern
Europe (€35m has been earmarked from the TACIS regional programme), Asia,
the Mediterranean and Latin America.